the great darkness will swallow you whole,
puke and spit you out where your body is;
will tattoo sweat on your back in jet black
ink in blurs, here with your head down;
will scratch over your bare breast and leave marks,
for every acquaintance long gone;

the great darkness will be mean, reuniting the path
of a spine and breaking that head;
circling around in patriarchal patterns that
shifted and shivered swam away;
a raw verse stuck on two hands, waiting to be cut
out in words and palm lines,
painstakingly and cautious and reckless;

reckless like the great darkness is,
no wandering eye will show it,
no racing heart will catch up,
no thinking brain will recognise the blueprints,
you will render love useless like you know

and you know it: give in
and the great darkness will too.